Our personal chef prepared cream cheese pancakes and bacon. Yum! While he was busy cooking, Papa went in the back of the cabin to try and get a picture of the cabin from that angle. The grade is steep and he was watching his step so he didn't stumble. At one point he looked up and saw a black bear! He turned around and came into the house to announce that there was a bear visitor! As you can imagine, we all filtered out the door to the front where the bear had followed Papa. He was not afraid of us and seemed to be interested in begging for food. His front left paw was injured, as he had a limp. Aunt B called the rental company and they said that a trap with food was put out two weeks ago in an attempt to capture and attend to his paw. He wandered off after about 30 minutes but he was the talk of the rest of the vacation!

We got the group together and took off for Dollywood. Voted by our group to be the best amusement park, we spent most of the day there. Winning prizes…

In March of this year, our family made plans and a reservation to go to Gatlinburg, TN. October 11 - 14, to be spent in a cabin on top of a mountain! October finally got here and we drove from our perspective homes and converged on Gatlinburg. Check in was at 3:00 PM.

The NY Schmidts got their first. Uncle Mike, Aunt Colleen and Oliver arrived around 1:00 PM. They made time to drive around and check out our cabin. LP and Tia arrived about the same time us other Florida Schmidts arrived. Our truck had me, Papa, Grandmom, Uncle Jeff and Kati. Shortly after we arrived, the Kentucky Schmidts made their appearance. Kentunckie, Aunt B, Corny Lane and Lemon rounded out the group.

First things first was room assignments. This house has 4 levels with six bedrooms and five bathrooms. Our chef, Kentunckie, started unpacking food and making preparations for our first meal. We would grill out!

The evenings were cool enough for a fire, a dip in the hot tub and sitting on the massive bac…

Someone in my family got married!!! Rebecca and Luke were married on September 23, 2012 at The Winterbourne in Orange Park, Florida. So many wonderful people to thank that helped make the ceremony a success! Enjoy some of the photos from that day.

Today was a wonderful celebration of some very special girls. Today was Coeur d'Lane and Lennon's first birthday! Hard to believe it's been a year since they were born. At times it seems like yesterday and then it seems like it's been a life time ago. I'm not sure if it's because I'm older, but time goes by so fast. Is it the experiences that make "time fly"? Not needing an answer, just pondering these moments.

There were about 50 people, mostly family, at the Girl's Birthday Party. Four generations represented, many children new to the family along with the "regulars". I don't know if the Stivers family feels this way but I feel so at home with their family. They make us feel like we belong to the family. I feel lucky to be apart of their lives.

So tomorrow starts another year. One day at a time to cherish the gift of family. One moment to express one more time how much we love each other.

Since the surgery prevents any weight-bearing activity for 6 to 8 weeks, it seemed like a great idea to go visit the Grandchildren! What a great idea it's been. Here are a couple of pics from our trip.